The present invention relates to a hinge, and method for height adjustment of a hinge.
After attachment of hinges to pieces of furniture, it is often required to read-just the height of the doors so as to compensate for manufacturing and mounting tolerances of the furniture which are caused, inter alia, by incorrect alignment of the doors. Thus, a height adjustment at the hinges is performed so as to position the doors at a uniform height.
As of yet, height adjustment of the hinges has been effected in various manners. The frame-side hinge portion attached to the frame of a piece of furniture is normally mounted to the frame by use of two threaded bolts. These bolts are guided in the frame portion via longitudinal holes extending in the direction of the height adjustment, with the length of the longitudinal holes corresponding to the desired measure of the height adjustment from a central position. In an example of a known arrangement, the longitudinal holes have holding webs located therein for holding the attachment bolts in their central positions within the longitudinal hole. If a height adjustment becomes necessary, these webs will be broken off. In this regard, it is disadvantageous that the mounting bolts have to be screwed outwards to a relatively far extent until the webs, arranged below the respective bolts, will break. Further, it is of disadvantage that these broken webs tend to fall down, thus becoming caught in other components in the cabinet or the like piece of furniture, or impeding the function of such components.
It is an object of the instant invention to provide a hinge, including a height adjustment device, which is easily handled and which does not require that parts are broken out when unlocking the hinge from its central position.
In the hinge according to the instant invention, it is advantageously provided that the height adjustment device comprises a releasable locking device which in its locking position will hold the hinge portion in a central position relative to the screwed attachment bolts. After unlocking the locking device, the hinge portion can be displaced upwards or downwards from its central position and then be fixed in place by tightening the attachment bolts.
Preferably, it is provided that the locking device is releasable by deformation of a locking projection. The locking projection is arranged to engage a recess adapted to the locking projection for thus locking the hinge portion in its central position.
It can be provided that the above deformation of the locking projection will be permanent so that the described unlocking of the hinge portion will be irreversible. By way of alternative, the locking projection can be resiliently deformable so that the hinge portion can be locked in its central position also after having been unlocked.
The locking device can be designed to be unlocked by application of a tool. Unlocking is preferably performed by use of a screw-driver which is also required for loosening or tightening the attachment bolts.
The height adjustment device comprises an adjusting element which, when operated by means of the tool, allows for height adjustment of the hinge portion.
It is particularly preferred that the tool, by engaging the adjusting element for height adjustment, will simultaneously unlock the locking device. Thus, in one working step, the hinge portion is released from the central position while at the same time, e.g. by turning the tool, the height adjustment can be performed through the engagement of the tool with the adjusting element.
The height adjustment device can comprise a stationary adjusting element having the locking projection of the locking device extending therefrom, the locking projection of the locking device engaging the hinge portion which is displaceable relative to the adjusting element. Alternatively, the locking projection of the locking device can be engaged by a locking projection extending from the hinge portion.
The adjusting element is formed with guide openings for the attachment bolts and is configured for linear guidance of the hinge portion. The attachment bolts are screwed into the frame via these guide openings so that the adjusting element will be fixed in position on the frame.
The guide openings of the adjusting element can be provided with collars projecting in the direction of the hinge portion and engaging the oval attachment holes of the hinge portions. The attachment holes are formed as longitudinal holes in the adjustment direction.
The adjusting element preferably comprises a plate-shaped member arranged between the frame or the wing of the respective door and the hinge portion. This allows for a flat configuration of the hinge portion so that the hinge portion will protrude by only a small height when attached. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the adjusting element comprises a thin punched member of sheet metal.
The adjusting element comprises a recess adapted to the tool and provided for engagement by the tool, with the hinge portion being displaceable relative to the adjusting element by rotating the tool. The tool is rotatably guided by means of a guide opening formed in the hinge portion. The tool, when engaging the recess of the adjusting element, will at the same time release the locking projection of the locking device on the adjusting element from the engagement with the recess assigned to the locking projection.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the recess of the adjusting element adapted to the tool, one the one hand, and the deformable locking projection, on the other hand, are arranged opposite each other, and are formed by a sole punched cutout in the plate-shaped member or sheet-metal piece constituting the adjusting element. Such an adjusting element can be produced at low cost and allows for a high force transmission during height adjustment.
Further preferred embodiments of the hinge are mentioned in the further sub-claims.
The instant invention further provides a method for height adjustment of the wing of a door pivoted to a frame by means of a plurality of hinges attached to the frame and the door wing by means of attachment bolts, wherein, in a first step, all of the attachment bolts of the frame-side or wing-side hinge portions provided with height adjustment devices are loosened by application of a tool, that, in a second step, a locked state of the hinge portion in the central position which has been established by the height adjustment device, is released in all of the hinges, which is preferably performed using the same tool, and, at the same time, a height adjustment is performed at the last hinge, wherein the tool engages an adjusting element of the height adjustment device of the hinge portion, unlocks the hinge from its central position, and by a rotational movement brings the door wing into the desired position and holds it therein, and that, in a third step, the attachment bolts of the hinge portion are tightened again.
The inventive method offers the advantage that, even after the release of the locked state of the individual hinges, the door will always be kept in position. Also after the last hinge has been unlocked, the door cannot fall down since the tool is arranged in engagement between the adjusting element and the hinge portion, thus preventing an uncontrolled dropping of the door. As a matter of course, the operating person can slightly lift the door to avoid an excess stress acting on the tool in the final hinge. By use of a tool, preferably a cross-slotted screw driver, the height adjustment can be performed with a high degree of accuracy. When the correct position of the door wing has been reached, the attachments bolts are tightened. It is particularly advantageous that the need to break out small pieces of the hinge portion is obviated; thus, no fragments of the hinge portion can drop into the hinge or other parts of the piece of furniture and have to be removed, which would cause additional work.
The hinge portion can be provided with marking lines so that the amount of the height adjustment can be read and correctly set.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained in greater detail hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.